Spitz: A marker to remember Francis Brazeau

Friday

Jun 14, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 14, 2013 at 2:04 PM

Lydia Whitcomb remembers the way he polished his shoes while listening to the radio.

Julia Spitz/Daily News staff

Lydia Whitcomb remembers the way he polished his shoes while listening to the radio. She remembers how he took a wheelbarrow up to Clover Hill to get the potatoes he had planted there, and how the family had potatoes all winter. She remembers the fact that although he was the fifth child, he was the first of the 15 brothers and sisters to go to high school.

But the number of people with vivid memories of Whitcomb's older brother are dwindling.

Which is why she and Marlborough Veterans Agent Gary Brown felt it was important to get the marker available free through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and to have it placed it on the grave of Francis Brazeau's mother, Laura "Lura'' Brazeau, in St. Mary's Cemetery, in the coming weeks.

"I think it's important to focus on the spot,'' said Brown. "Future generations will understand there was a Francis Brazeau from Marlborough and he lost his life in the war.''

After surviving the Bataan Death March, Pvt. Francis X. Brazeau, who served in the Army Air Force, died on May 8, 1942, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He was buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, so there has been no grave marker to remind local residents of his life in Marlborough.

It also represents a fitting tribute to Lura Brazeau, who was an active member of the American Gold Star Mothers for more than 50 years.

Lura Brazeau, who died a month shy of her 107th birthday in 1997, was devastated by her son's death, her daughter said. "He never told my mother beforehand'' that he had enlisted, Whitcomb said. "He just left.''

After the war, a fellow serviceman brought some measure of comfort.

Brazeau "befriended a man on the ship going over there, and when he knew he was dying, he asked (the friend) to take his wallet to give to his mother. (The friend) said, 'You know I can't take your wallet. They won't let me.' So (Brazeau) said, 'Take something my mother will know is mine.' When he came back from overseas, he came to visit my family and told my mother the whole story about what (Brazeau) went through. He went through it, too. That relieved a lot of questions for her, I think,'' said Whitcomb.

"I don't remember what he brought back'' from her brother, she said. "My mother was very private.''

Her mother was also very industrious. In addition to raising 15 children, she worked in the local shoe factories for many years.

Brown remembers the story of how she walked by the home where she had grown up and noticed "one day there's a 'For Sale' sign out front. ... They wanted $50 down. So she tells her husband (Joseph) and he says, 'We don't have that kind of money.' She said, 'Well, I do.' '' From her shoe factory work, she had saved the money needed as a down payment, and lived in the house until she went to a nursing home at age 105.

The mother of six sons who served in the military, she was an active participant at local veterans events, and "went over to the Philippines with a group of Gold Star Mothers and the (American) Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor,'' Whitcomb said. "She knelt on (Francis') grave, which I think did her a lot of good.''

Whitcomb's first husband, Francis John Thomas, was also killed while serving in World War II. The member of the Army National Guard, Company K, died in France on Aug. 10, 1944, leaving her with a son, Francis Jr., who was little more than a toddler at the time.

"Life is bitter and sweet,'' said Whitcomb, who has been a member of the local Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary since 1947.

She met her second husband, Walter Whitcomb, through mutual friends, and "it clicked'' on their first date, a double date at the Old Timer in Clinton.

"It's a funny little circle,'' Brown said. "I recently obtained one of these (grave markers) for Joseph Matisewski, who was killed on Corregidor, for his sister, who is the owner of the Old Timer.''

Although some private cemeteries may charge a fee to install the markers, "the VA provides these at no cost,'' said Brown. Those who think they may be eligible to receive one on behalf of a deceased family member should contact their local veterans agent, he said.

"I think it's important to show evidence they were here,'' he said.

It's important to remember a man who grew up on French Hill served his country with honor, and all those like him, who never had the chance to come home.

Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@wickedlocal.com. Follow tweets at twitter.com/SpitzJ_MW.